Chapter VI: Introduction (4)

But the most interesting fact connected with Maeshow was the discovery that a large number of Runic inscriptions had been scratched on the stones of the interior walls of the chamber. It was evident, from the height at which the inscriptions occurred, as well as from indications of the weathering of the stones previous to their being inscribed, that when the runes were cut the chamber was roofless and partially filled up with rubbish. The form of the letters of which the inscriptions are composed is that of the later class of Norse Runes, “which,” says Professor Munch, “are never older than A.D. 1100 at least.” The majority of the inscriptions are such as men seeking the shelter or concealment of the “broken how” might scribble from mere idleness. One gives the Runic alphabet. A number of others are simple memoranda consisting of the name of a man and the statement that he “hewed this” or “carved these runes.” But one of the longer inscriptions supplies the important information that “the Jorsala-farers broke open the Orkahaug in the lifetime of the blessed earl.” This seems to imply that the inscription was carved after the death of “the blessed earl” Rögnvald, or subsequent to 1158. The Jorsala-farers who accompanied him from Norway in 1152 remained a considerable time in Orkney before the expedition was ready, and as we learn from the Saga their conduct during that time was such as would naturally result from the enforced idleness of a numerous body of rough and uncontrolled adventurers. The “breaking of a how” in the hope of finding treasure was a common exploit among the Northmen. It seems to have been done sometimes also as a proof of courage, for the bravest were not altogether void of superstitious fears. From another part of the inscription we gather that the Jorsala-farers who broke the Orkahaug were disappointed in the hope of finding treasure, as it had been previously carried away. In all probability they were not the first who had been tempted by the magnitude of the monument to try the venture. On one of the buttresses, long slabs inserted in the corners of the chamber, is carved a cross, and on another a dragon, similar in style to that in the tomb of King Gorm the Old at Jellinge in Denmark, and bearing also some resemblance to one sculptured on the Runic stone dug up in St. Paul’s Churchyard, London, and to another at Hunestad in Scania. The tomb of King Gorm is dated about the middle of the 10th century. Rafn assigns the stone dug up in London to about the middle of the 11th century; while the Hunestad example is assigned to about 1150, which is close on the date of Earl Rögnvald’s expedition to the Holy Land, which brought the Jorsala-farers to Orkney.

Among the names thus carved on the stones of Maeshow are those of Ingibiorg, Ingigerd, Thorer, Helgi, Ingi, and Arnfinn. All these are names of persons who are mentioned in the Saga as living in Earl Rögnvald’s time, and several of whom were closely connected with him. Ingigerd, his daughter, was married to Eric Slagbrellir, and they had a daughter named Ingibiorg. Helgi was a particular friend of Earl Rögnvald’s. Arnfinn was taken prisoner by Earl Harald the morning after he and his men had spent the Yule-feast day at Orkahaug on his way to surprise Earl Erlend.[199] There is nothing, however, to identify any of these names with certainty as the names of the persons mentioned in the Saga. But the fact that the name Orkahaug, which only occurs once in the Saga, is not known to occur anywhere else except in the inscription carved on the walls of Maeshow, referring to the breaking open of the tumulus, is interesting in more ways than one. It shows that the Norsemen were ignorant of the origin of the tumulus, which they knew only as the Orka-haug[200] or “mighty how.” In one of the inscriptions the writer assigns its construction to the sons of Lodbrok, which is equivalent to saying that its origin was quite unknown[201] to them.

About a mile to the south-west of Maeshow, and scattered over the ness or tongue of land separating the loch of Stennis from the sea, is a remarkable group of stone circles and tumuli.[202] The largest of the circles, the “Ring of Brogar,” having a diameter of 366 feet, encloses an area of 2½ acres. It is surrounded by a trench 29 feet broad and 6 feet deep. Within the enclosure thirteen stones of the great circle still remain standing, the stumps of thirteen more are visible, and ten are lying prostrate. The original number of the stones, says Captain Thomas, on the presumption that they were placed at nearly equal distances apart, would have been sixty, so that twenty-four have been entirely obliterated. The highest stone stands almost 14 feet above the surface of the ground, and the lowest is about 6 feet, the average being from 8 to 10 feet. It is difficult to realise the amount of laborious effort expended in the construction of a work like this, which does not appeal to the eye like the magnitude of the great mounds around it. But when one reflects on what is implied in the transportation and erection of these great stones, and the excavation of a ditch round them of 10 yards wide, 2 yards deep, and 366 yards long, it loses none of its magnificence in comparison with the more imposing monuments.

The smaller circle, called the “Ring of Stennis,” is more clearly monumental than the Ring of Brogar, as it contains the remains of a cromlech within it. It seems to have consisted originally of twelve stones placed round the circumference of a circle of about 100 feet in diameter, and surrounded by a deep and broad trench with a circumscribing mound, now nearly obliterated. Only two stones of the circle remain standing, and a third lies prostrate. Peterkin states that some were thrown down and removed by the tenant of the adjoining lands in 1814. The cromlech is also thrown down, but one of the supports of the massive capstone is still standing, and the capstone, which lies beside it, is 9 feet long by 6 feet broad.

The Ring of Bookan is a circular space 136 feet in diameter, surrounded by a trench 44 feet broad and 6 feet deep. There are upwards of twenty tumuli, some of them very large, in the immediate vicinity.

In the Saga of Olaf, Tryggvi’s son, Stennis is mentioned as the place where Havard, eldest of the five sons of Earl Thorfinn Hausakliuf, was slain in battle with his sister’s son Einar. The Saga says:[203]—“Havard was then at Stæinsnes in Hrossey. There it was they met, and there was a hard battle, and it was not long till the Earl fell. The place is now called Havard’s _teigr_.” Teigr is an individual’s share, or allotment, of the tun or town-land, and the expression might be taken to mean rather that Havard was buried by simple inhumation than that there was a cairn or tumulus raised over him, in which case it would have been known as Havard’s How. But the name of Havard was never connected with the great tumulus known as Maeshow, and if he was buried in a tumulus at all, it is more likely that his corpse was burnt with the customary ceremonies of that heathen time and his ashes placed in a great stone urn. The grave-mounds of the Viking period in Norway prove this to have been then the common practice. Such a mound, enclosing such an urn, was opened at Stennis by Mr. Farrer, M.P., in 1853. This tumulus, if not Havard’s, was apparently Norse, and being the largest in the neighbourhood of Stennis, must have been that of a person of great distinction.

The fact that the Norsemen at this early period (about A.D. 970) called this place Steins-ness, shows that it was known to them, only as it is to us, as the ness of the monumental stones. If they had had anything to do with the erection of any of these monuments, in all probability we should have had some incidental record of the fact in one or other of the Sagas.

XII. MOUSA AND THE PICTISH TOWERS.

The little island of Mousa (the Mosey of the Saga), lying off the Mainland of Shetland, is interesting as containing the best preserved specimen of the “towers of defence,” which were the strongholds of the native inhabitants previous to the Norse invasion.

The tower of Mousa, of which a view is here given, consists of a circular dry-built wall, 15 feet thick at the base, enclosing an area or circular court 30 feet in diameter, and open to the sky, so as to admit light to the ranges of windows which open from the galleries towards the interior. The doorway leading through the wall into this interior court is the only opening to the outside of the tower. From the court other openings in the wall give access to small ovoid chambers in the thickness of the wall on the ground-floor, and to a stair which ascends to the upper galleries. Above the chambers on the ground-floor the wall is carried up hollow, or rather there are two concentric walls with a space of about 3½ feet between them, which is divided into storeys or galleries by horizontal courses of transverse slabs, which bind the two walls together. Thus each of these courses of horizontal slabs forms the roof of the gallery beneath it, and serves as a floor to the one above it.

These singularly-constructed towers were once thickly planted over the whole of the northern mainland of Scotland, as well as over the most of the Northern and Western Isles.[204] A number of them have been excavated of late years, and the results of these excavations[205] furnish us with interesting evidences of the conditions of life among the people who lived in them. The relics that have been obtained from them have no connection as a class with those that are usually found in the cisted graves and chambered tombs of earlier times.[206] But judging from the general character of their included remains, the people who lived in these towers were possessed of a considerable degree of civilisation. There is abundant evidence that they were not only expert hunters and fishers, but that they kept flocks and herds, grew grain and ground it by hand-mills,[207] practised the arts of spinning and weaving, had ornaments of gold of curious workmanship, and were not unskilled workers in bronze and iron. Their pottery was rude, but not ruder than the pottery manufactured and used for common or domestic purposes in some of the islands of Scotland within the present century. It is true that silver denarii of the Roman Emperors Antoninus, Trajan, and Vespasian, have been found in the outbuildings connected with the Broch or “Pictish Tower” of Lingrow at Scapa in Orkney; but it is to be noticed that upwards of 4000 of these Roman denarii have been found in Scandinavia, where the Romans never were, and found so often associated with relics of the Viking period as to suggest that they were carried thither some centuries after their dates.

The Tower of Mousa, Moseyjar-borg, is twice mentioned by the Saga writers. The earliest notice occurs in the Saga of Egill Skalagrimson, the warrior-poet, and refers to a period about A.D. 900. It is there stated that Björn Brynulfson, fleeing from Norway with Thora Roald’s daughter, because his father would not allow him to celebrate his marriage with her, was shipwrecked on the island of Mousa, landed his cargo, and lived in the Borg through the winter, celebrating his marriage in it, and afterwards sailed for Iceland. The second notice of Mousa,[208] singularly enough, occurs on an occasion somewhat similar to this, when Earl Erlend Ungi fled from Orkney with Margaret, the widow of Maddad, Earl of Athole, and was besieged in the Borg by Earl Harald (Maddadson), who was displeased at the prospect of having Erlend for a step-father.

XIII. REMAINS OF THE NORTHMEN.

Turning from the pages of the Saga to the scenes of the events which it records, we find, both in the topography and traditions of the localities, and in the customs and characteristics of the people, abundant evidence of the substantial truth of the narrative.

The range of territory possessed and occupied by the Norsemen may still be distinguished on the map of Scotland by the prevalence of Norse place-names. In Shetland and Orkney the topography is altogether Norse. In Caithness and Sutherland there is a core of Celtic topography in the central mountain districts, while the Norse names spread out through the valleys, forming a broad fringe along the seaboard, and occupying the whole angle of lowland Caithness. But south of Ekkialsbakki they rapidly thin out, and finally disappear, with a few outlying instances, in Moray. The permanent dominions of the Northmen in the mainland of Scotland were limited to the earldom proper, the southern boundary of which was the Kyle of Sutherland. The Saga says they conquered the country as far south as Ekkialsbakki; and though they sometimes extended their power over parts of Ross and Moray, and even made a raid on one occasion as far south as Fife, they made no permanent lodgment south of the Moray Firth, and their presence in Ross has but slightly affected the topography between the Kyle of Sutherland and the Beauly Firth.

In the Hebrides the Norse names, though much disguised by contact with the Celtic, still form a considerable if not a preponderating element in the topography, and their old Norse name, “Sudreyar,” still survives in the title of the Bishop of Sodor and Man. Along the western seaboard of the Scottish mainland, from Cape Wrath to the Mull of Kintyre, the Northmen have left their traces more sparsely, but very distinctly, upon the topography. In Bute, Arran, and the Cumbraes, and on the shores of the Solway Firth, the topography also shows the influence of the Northern element, exerted during the existence of the Norse “Kingdom of Man and the Isles.”

There are many remnants of the older usages[209] in the peculiar local customs; and in the characteristics of the people of the Northern Isles there are also, of necessity, many striking resemblances to those of the Scandinavian race. The elucidation of these, however, would lead into a field far too wide to be entered on here. The language of the early colonists, which must have survived as long as the Islands were governed “according to the Norse law-book and the ancient usages,” seems to have died out rapidly after they were transferred to Scottish rule. Yet Jo. Ben found it existing in Rendal in Orkney in 1529; and it is stated[210] that in 1593 a clergyman, named Magnus Norsk, who was ordained to a Shetland parish, went to Norway to learn the Norse language, in order to qualify himself for his ministry, because the Shetlanders at that time understood no other tongue. Even so late as 1774, Low found people in Foula who could repeat the Lord’s Prayer in Norse, and he gives thirty-five stanzas of an old Norse ballad which he took down from oral recitation. In the Faroe Isles a large number of these ballads and metrical tales have been collected.[211] There can be no doubt that they were equally common in the neighbouring island groups, but no literary antiquary possessed of the requisite knowledge seems to have visited Shetland and Orkney in time to rescue them from oblivion.

The curious literary fragment, taken down phonetically by Low, who was completely ignorant of the language, is plainly akin to the old Scandinavian _Kæmpeviser_. The story is based on the _Sörlathattr_, one of the scenes of which is laid in the island of Hoy. The main incidents of the older poem are as follow:—Hedin, a prince of Serkland, had sworn mutual brotherhood with Hogni, King of Denmark. Nothing occurred to disturb their friendship until Hogni went on a war expedition. Hedin, wandering in the woods, fell in with a sorceress, from whom he received a magic philtre to enable him to win the love of Hilda, Hogni’s daughter. The result was that he ran off with her in a splendid ship belonging to Hogni, and made for Serkland. When Hogni came home he set off in pursuit, and came up with them at the island of Hoy. There they both landed with their men, and a furious battle commenced. Odin (who enjoyed a good fight) cast a spell upon the combatants, so that they were obliged to fight on without ceasing, until a Christian should come who should have the hardihood to mingle in the fray, of which Hilda was doomed to be all the time an agonised spectator. At last Olaf Tryggvi’s son came to the Orkneys, and Ivar Liomi, one of his men who landed in Hoy, went into the fight and broke the spell, killed Hedin and Hogni, and bore off the prize.[212]

The story of the Shetland ballad is that Hiluge, a young nobleman at the court of Norway, made love to the king’s daughter Hildina, and was rejected by her, though her father supported his pretensions to her hand. When the king and Hiluge were away at the wars, an Earl of Orkney came to Norway, and found such favour with Hildina that she consented to fly with him to the Orkneys. When the king and Hiluge returned and discovered what had happened in their absence, they set sail, with a great host, in pursuit of the fugitives. Hildina persuaded the earl to go unarmed to meet her father, and ask for his pardon and peace. The king was pleased to forgive him, and to grant his consent to their union. But now Hiluge, by artfully working on the king’s mind, stirs up his latent wrath against the earl, and induces him to revoke his consent. The result is, that he decides that Hiluge and the earl shall meet in single combat, and fight it out to the death of one or other. Hiluge was victorious; and, not content with the death of his enemy, he cut off his head and cast it into Hildina’s lap with taunting words. Hildina answered his taunts boldly, and conceived a bloody revenge. But she must now follow him to Norway, where he renewed his courtship. Ere long she seemed to relent, and gave him her promise, but besought her father to grant her this boon, that she herself should fill out the first wine-cup at the bridal. Her request was granted. The guests came, the feast was set, and Hildina filled up the wine-cups for them. The wine was drugged, and they were all cast into a deep sleep, from which nothing could awake them. Hildina now caused her father to be carried forth, and set fire to the house. Hiluge, awaking in the midst of the burning, cried out for mercy. Hildina replied that she would give him the same mercy as he had given to her earl, and left him to perish in the flames.

The dialect of the ballad resembles that which prevailed in Norway in the middle of the 15th century, but presents several peculiarities of local origin. The allusions in it to St. Magnus show that it cannot be older than the 12th century in its present form, although the story of Hedin and Hogni, on which it appears to have been founded, belongs to the heathen time.

Looking at the number of Runic monuments in the island of Man,[213] and the beauty of their workmanship, it certainly seems surprising that none of these characteristic works of northern art should have survived in the Orkneys.[214] Previous to the discovery of the inscriptions in Maeshow, the only Rune-inscribed monument known within the bounds of the ancient earldom was the stone in the churchyard of Crosskirk, Northmavine, Shetland, described by Low, which reads (according to his imperfect copy) “Bid pray for the soul of ——,” and consequently belongs to the Christian time. That there were similar monuments in other places, however, is shown by the recent discovery of a Runic fragment at Aithsvoe, Cunningsburgh, Shetland.[215] It is a mere fragment of the terminal part of a monumental inscription, incised on the edge of the stone, consisting of the letters KVIMIK, which Professor Stephens reads as the concluding part of the customary formula, “—— hewed me,” _i.e._ carved this stone.

But perhaps the most interesting and suggestive remains of the Northmen are those that have been from time to time recovered from the soil which they made their own—the relics which were actually possessed by the men and women of the Saga time; the weapons they used, and the ornaments they wore. In the grave-mounds of the heathen period, the warrior Viking still lies as he was laid, with his shield at his shoulder, and his sword ready to his hand.

The sword here figured, which is of a distinctively Scandinavian type, was dug up in making the railway near Gorton, in Morayshire, and is now in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. It is 35 inches in length, of excellent workmanship, damascened along the centre of the blade, and the pommel and recurved guard are beautifully inlaid with silver. A number of fragments of shield-bosses and broken swords, from Orkney graves, are also in the museum. The swords are chiefly of the older form, with straight guard and massive square or triangular pommel. In one of the interments at Westray the scabbard-tip here figured was found, and in others the bones of the dog and horse were found along with the human skeleton, indicating the continuance in Orkney of the sepulchral rites which prevailed in the heathen time in Norway.

For at least a century and a half after the establishment of the Norse earldom in Orkney and Shetland, the heathen Norsemen practised the burial customs which they had brought with them from Norway. Sigurd, Eystein’s son, the first Earl of Orkney, was buried in a cairn on Ekkialsbakki, (and his grave-mound was known as Sigurd’s How (_Siwardhoch_) in the 12th century,[216]) and Torf Einar caused his men to rear a cairn over the remains of Halfdan Hálegg, the son of Harald Harfagri, whom he offered to Odin in Rinansey.

A vivid picture of the ceremonies attending the burial of a Norse chief of the 10th century is preserved in the narrative of an eye-witness, in the work of an Arab geographer;[217] and all its details are amply confirmed by the contents of the grave-mounds of the period. Ahmed Ibn Fozlan, being in the country on the upper part of the Volga (then occupied by the Norsemen), as ambassador from the Caliph Al Moktader (A.D. 907-932), resolved to see for himself whether what he had heard of their burial customs was true. A great chief among the Norsemen had just died, and Ibn Fozlan describes, with curious minuteness of detail, the strange things he witnessed on the occasion. He gives a most characteristic picture of the drinking habits of the Northmen. “This nation,” he says, “is much given to wine and drink, by day and night, and it is not uncommon for one or another of them to die with beakers in their hands. When a chieftain dies, his family ask his maids (concubines) and men-servants, ‘Which of you will die with him?’ One of them will say, ‘I,’ and by this promise he is bound, and cannot revoke it. If he should desire to do so, he is not permitted.” It is mostly the maids who are willing to be thus sacrificed, says Ibn Fozlan, and on this occasion it was one of them who offered to die with her lord. She was accordingly given in charge to the other servants, who were to indulge her in every wish till the day of her sacrifice; and he adds, that “every day she drank, sang, was lively and merry.” Meantime the dead man had been laid in a temporary grave, and strong drink, fruits, and musical instruments placed beside him, as if to relieve the tedium of his confinement until the completion of the preparations for the funeral rites. A splendid suit of clothing was prepared for him, his ship was hauled up on the strand, and placed on four posts erected for the purpose. A bed was prepared in the midst of the deck, with a tent-like canopy over it, and covered with gold-embroidered cloth. In the preparation of this bed there comes on the scene an old hag, “whom they called the dead man’s angel.” It was she who took charge of the making of the dead man’s clothing and all needful arrangements, and she it was also who was to put the girl to death. “I saw her,” says Ibn Fozlan; “she was sallow and stern.” While the “dead man’s angel” was arranging the bed, the multitude were away at the temporary grave, disinterring the corpse. They clothed him in the rich garments provided for the occasion, and then bore him to the ship, where he was laid in state under the canopy. “So they laid him on the mattress, and stayed him up with pillows, then brought the strong drink, the fruits, and odoriferous herbs, and set them by his side, placing bread, meat, and onions also before him. Then came a man forward with a dog, hewed it into two portions, and cast them into the ship. So brought they all the dead man’s weapons and laid them by his side. Then they led forth two horses, made them run till they were covered with sweat, then hewed them in pieces with the sword, and cast the flesh into the ship. So also they brought forth two oxen, hewed them in pieces, and cast them into the ship. Next they came with a cock and hen, slew them, and cast them also into the ship.” In the meantime the woman who was to die kept going backwards and forwards in and out of the tent. At last they led her away to an object which they had made in the form of the framework of a door—two posts, with a cross piece on the top, or, as is suggested, a substitute for a trilithon. “She set her feet on the palms of men’s hands, stepped up on the frame, and said some words in their tongue, after which they made her stand down. Then they lifted her up a second and third time, and she went through the same ceremony. Now they handed her a hen, the head of which she cut off and cast away, but the body they cast into the ship. I asked my interpreter what it was that the woman had said. He answered, she said the first time, ‘Lo! I see my father and my mother;’ the second time, ‘Lo! here I see seated all my deceased relations;’ the third time, ‘Lo! here I see my master seated in paradise—paradise, beautiful and green, my master surrounded by his men and his menials; he calls for me; bring me to him.’ Thereupon they conveyed her to the ship. She took the bracelets from her arms, and gave them to the crone whom they called ‘the dead man’s angel;’ and the rings from her ankles, and gave them to the two young girls who had attended her, and who were ‘the dead man’s angel’s daughters.’ Then came men with shields and staves, and brought her a beaker of strong drink. She sang a song, and drank it out. Folk said to me that she thereby took leave of her friends. They reached her a second beaker. She took it, and sang a long time. The old hag bade her hasten to empty it, and go into the tent where her dead master was. I watched her; she was out of herself. In attempting to go into the tent she stuck by the head in the space between the tent and the ship. The old hag caught hold of her by the head and dragged her in with her, while the men commenced to beat their shields with the staves, that her shrieks might not be heard, and so frighten other girls, and make them unwilling to die with their lords.” The sequel is too horrible to be given as it stands in the old Arab’s plain-spoken narrative. A cord was finally wound round her neck, at the ends of which two men pulled, while the “dead man’s angel” stabbed her to the heart with a broad-bladed knife. Then the relatives of the dead man set fire to the pile. A storm that was just beginning to rage fanned the flames, and drove them aloft to a great height. A Norseman who was standing by said to Ibn Fozlan “You Arabs are fools. You take the man whom you most have loved and honoured, and put him down into the earth, where vermin and worms devour him. We, on the contrary, burn him up in a twinkling, and he goes straight to paradise.” After the pile was consumed to ashes they raised a great-mound over the spot, and set up on it a pillar made of a tree-trunk, on which they carved the names of the dead man and of their king.

The burial usages, however, were not always the same. Great men were buried with the pomp and ceremony befitting their rank, while meaner men were simply reduced to ashes and inhumed in a clay urn, or in a stone pot, not unfrequently in the stone cooking-kettle that had served them when in life.[218] This burial in stone urns, or in cooking vessels of steatite, is of common occurrence in the grave-mounds of the Viking period in Norway, and is also not unfrequently found in Orkney and Shetland.

Associated with such burials in Norway there are occasionally found the peculiar brooches which are characteristic of the later Pagan time.[219] Although they occur perhaps more frequently with unburnt burials, they link on with the custom of cremation. Thus they afford a valuable index to the chronology of these remains in Scotland, because the Pagan period of the Scandinavian occupation may be said to be limited to the time between the expedition of Harald Harfagri and the battle of Clontarf (872-1014). These brooches are found in Scandinavian graves of this period, in Scotland, England, Ireland, Normandy, Russia, and Iceland—in short, wherever the heathen Vikings effected a settlement. In Scotland they have been found in various places—in Sutherland, in Caithness, in Orkney, in the Hebrides, and even in remote St. Kilda. The specimen here figured, which is now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is one of a pair found in a stone cist on a mound which covered the remains of a “Pictish Tower” at Castletown in Caithness.[220] They are usually found in pairs, one near each shoulder of the skeleton. This corresponds with the statement of an ancient Arab writer, that the Norse women used to wear such brooches in pairs on their breasts.[221]

The most remarkable discovery of these characteristic Scandinavian interments that has hitherto occurred in Scotland was made in the island of Westray, Orkney, in 1849, by Mr. William Rendall.[222] A number of graves were found in the sandy links near Pierowall (the Hofn of the Saga), in some of which were swords and shield-bosses, indicating that the skeletons were those of men. But in one a pair of tortoise or shell-shaped brooches and a trefoil ornament were the only objects found with the skeleton. In another, a pair of these brooches were found on the breast, and a pair of combs, of the form here figured, lay on either side of the neck, apparently as they had fallen out of the hair. In a third, a pair of brooches, a pair of combs, and a bronze pin, were found. It appears from these examples that the brooches undoubtedly belonged to women, and that the warriors were usually buried with sword and shield and “panoply of war;” and, as we read in Ibn Fozlan’s account, the dog and the horse of the deceased appear also to have been sacrificed at the grave, and interred with him, in Orkney as well as on the banks of the Volga.

But we meet with few memorials of the daily life of the Norsemen beyond those which have been buried with them in the early period of their occupation of the Islands. Christianity abolished the custom of burying such relics with the dead, and for the remains of the Christian period we must look to the yet unexcavated sites of the _skális_ and homesteads of which we read in the Saga. It would be equally interesting to the archæologist, and instructive to the historian, to be able to compare the relics from such sites as those of Kolbein Hruga’s castle in Weir, the castle of which Blán was the keeper in Damsey, or the _skáli_ of Swein Asleifson at Langskail in Gairsay, with the extensive collections obtained in recent years from the “Pictish Towers” of Orkney, which have given us such suggestive glimpses of the domestic life of the period preceding the Norse occupation.

It gives a curious feeling of reality to the ancient legends when we can thus handle the blades and bucklers of which we read such stirring stories, and remember that it was because the Norse sword was then the longest, and the Norse arm the strongest, that we now read the earliest chapters of the history of northern Scotland in the guise of an Iceland Saga.

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CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

A.D.

795. First appearance of the Norse Vikings in the Western Seas. They
plunder the Isle of Rachrin.

798. Invasion of the Isle of Man by the Norsemen. Inispatrick burned.

802. I Columbkill burned by the Norsemen.

806. I Columbkill again plundered by the Norsemen, and sixty-eight men
of the monastery slain.

807. First invasion of the mainland of Ireland by the Norsemen.

815. Turgesius (Thorkel?), chief of the invading Northmen, establishes
himself as king of the foreigners in Ireland, making Armagh the
capital of the kingdom.

824. Bangor, in the north of Ireland, the seat of the monastery of St.
Comhgall, burned, and the bishop and clergy slain by the Northmen.

843. Union of the Picts and Scots under Kenneth M’Alpin, founder of the
Scottish dynasty.

853. Arrival of Olaf the White in Ireland. He seizes Dublin, establishes
himself there as king, makes an expedition to Scotland, and
besieges and takes Dumbarton.

872. Harald Harfagri becomes sole King of Norway; makes an expedition
against the western Vikings, who have established their viking
station in Orkney, drives them from their haunts, and subdues
Shetland, Orkney, the Hebrides, and Man. He gives Orkney and
Shetland, as an earldom of Norway, to Rögnvald, Earl of Mœri,
father of Hrólf (Rollo), the conqueror of Normandy.

875. Earl Sigurd Eysteinson, who had received the earldom of Orkney from
his brother Rögnvald, Earl of Mœri, forms an alliance with
Thorstein the Red, son of Olaf the White, King of Dublin. They
invade the northern mainland of Scotland, and subdue Caithness and
Sutherland as far as Ekkialsbakki. Thorstein the Red is shortly
afterwards killed in Caithness; and Earl Sigurd dies, and is
buried under a cairn at Ekkialsbakki.

893. Einar (Torf Einar) slays Halfdan Hálegg, one of the sons of Harald
Harfagri, and buries him under a cairn in North Ronaldsay.

933. Death of Harald Harfagri. Eirik Bloodyaxe, his son, becomes King of
Norway. About this time the name “Scotia” and “Scotland,”
previously applied to Ireland, is first given to North Britain,
which had formerly been called Caledonia, Pictavia, or Alban.

950. Fall of King Eirik Bloodyaxe, and of Arnkell and Erlend, sons of
Torf Einar, and Earls of Orkney, in battle in England.

963. Thorfinn Hausakliuf Earl of Orkney. The sons of Eirik Bloodyaxe
arrive in Orkney.

980. Sigurd Hlödverson becomes Earl of Orkney.

986. I Columbkill plundered by the Norsemen, and the abbot and fifteen
of the clerics slain.

992. Olaf Tryggvi’s son, while on a roving expedition, is baptized by a
hermit in the Scilly Isles.

995. Olaf Tryggvi’s son becomes King of Norway, and immediately
establishes Christianity by the strong hand. Returning from a
western cruise, on his way to Norway he finds Earl Sigurd
Hlödverson by chance at Osmondwall in the Orkneys, and obliges him
to profess Christianity, and to promise to establish the true
faith in the Orkneys.

1000. Fall of King Olaf Tryggvi’s son at the battle of Swalder in
Norway.

1014. Battle of Clontarf, near Dublin, in which Sigurd Hlödverson, Earl
of Orkney, fell. Thorfinn, his son, is made Earl of Caithness and
Sutherland by Malcolm II., King of Scots, his maternal
grandfather.

1015. Olaf Haraldson (afterwards St. Olaf) becomes King of Norway.

1018. Battle of Ulfreksfiord, in which Earl Einar is vanquished by
Eyvind Urarhorn and King Conchobhar.

1019. Einar (Wrymouth), Earl of Orkney, slain by Thorkel Fóstri at
Sandwick, in Deerness, Orkney.

1020. The Earls Thorfinn and Brúsi acknowledge the suzerainty of King
Olaf the Holy over the Orkneys.

1028. Olaf the Holy driven from Norway by Canute the Great, King of
England and Denmark.

1030. Fall of King Olaf the Holy at the battle of Stiklestad.

1034. Death of Malcolm II., King of Scots. According to the Saga, “Kali
Hundason takes the kingdom,” and according to the Scottish
historians Duncan I. succeeds to the throne in Scotland. Mission
of Einar Thambarskelfir and Kalf Arneson to Russia to offer their
aid to Magnus, son of King Olaf the Holy, to obtain the throne of
Norway.

1035. Magnus the Good, son of Olaf Haraldson (the Holy), succeeds to the
throne of Norway, and Rögnvald Brusison becomes Earl of Orkney.

1039. Duncan I., King of Scots, slain by Macbeth, who becomes king.

1047. Magnus the Good dies in Denmark, and is succeeded by Harald
Sigurdson, surnamed Hardradi.

1050. Einar Thambarskelfir and the sons of Eindridi slain in Norway by
Harald Hardradi.

1054. Macbeth defeated by Malcolm (Canmore), son of Duncan.

1057. Malcolm Canmore crowned at Scone.

1064. Death of Thorfinn Sigurdson, Earl of Caithness and Orkney. He is
succeeded by his sons Paul and Erlend, and his widow, Ingibiorg
(according to the Saga) is married to Malcolm Canmore.

1066. Fall of King Harald Sigurdson (Hardradi) at the battle of Stamford
Bridge, near York, in which Harald Godwinson was victor. His son
Olaf (Kyrre) and the Orkney Earls, Paul and Erlend, who were with
him in the battle, receive peace from the conqueror and liberty to
return to Orkney. Olaf Kyrre succeeds to the throne of Norway.

1067. Malcolm Canmore marries Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling.

1093. Malcolm Canmore killed at Alnwick. Death of King Olaf Kyrre, and
accession of Magnus Barelegs to the throne of Norway. He makes an
expedition to the west, ravages the Scottish coasts, and assists
Muirceartach in the capture of Dublin.

1098. King Magnus makes a second expedition to the west, seizes the
Earls of Orkney, Paul and Erlend, and sends them both to Norway
(where they died); places his own son, Sigurd, over the Orkneys;
and overruns the Hebrides, Kintyre, and Man.

1103. Magnus, King of Norway, slain in Ireland. His son, Sigurd, goes
from Orkney to Norway, and succeeds to the kingdom jointly with
his brothers Eystein and Olaf. Magnus Erlendson (St. Magnus), and
Hakon, Paul’s son, succeed to the earldom of Orkney.

1106. Accession of Alexander I. to the throne of Scotland.

1107. King Sigurd (Magnusson) sets out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem,
which occupies him for three years. He is thenceforth called
Sigurd, the Jorsala-farer.

1115. Magnus Erlendson (St. Magnus) slain in Egilsey by his cousin
Hakon, Paul’s son.

1124. Death of Alexander I., and accession of David I., King of Scots.

1130. Death of King Sigurd, the Jorsala-farer, and accession to the
throne of Norway of King Harald Gilli, an illegitimate son of King
Magnus Barelegs, from the Hebrides.

1136. Harald Gilli slain by Sigurd Slembidiakn. Rögnvald (Kali) Kolson
obtains the earldom of Orkney from Earl Páll, son of Hakon, who is
carried off to Athole by Swein Asleifson.

1139. Death of Sigurd Slembidiakn. Visit of Bishop John of Athole to
Orkney. Harald Maddadson, son of Maddad, Earl of Athole, shares
the earldom of Caithness and Orkney with Earl Rögnvald (Kali).

1151. Earl Rögnvald and Erling Skakki leave Norway to prepare for their
pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Jorsala-farers winter in Orkney.

1152. Earl Rögnvald leaves the Orkneys on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
King Eystein comes to Orkney from Norway, and seizing Earl Harald
Maddadson at Thurso obtains from him an acknowledgment of his
suzerainty over the Orkneys.

1153. Death of David I., King of Scotland, and accession of Malcolm the
Maiden.

1155. Earl Rögnvald returns from Palestine. Erlend Ungi receives
Rögnvald’s mother, Margaret, in marriage, and is shortly
afterwards slain by the Earls Rögnvald and Harald.

1158. Earl Rögnvald slain at Calder in Caithness by Thorbiörn Klerk.
Earl Harald becomes sole ruler of Caithness and Orkney.

1165. Malcolm the Maiden dies at Jedburgh, and is succeeded by King
William the Lion.

1168. Death of William the Old, first Bishop of Orkney.

1176. Magnus Erlingson becomes King of Norway. Harald Ungi (son of Eirik
Slagbrellir by a daughter of Earl Rögnvald) receives from King
Magnus the title of earl and half of the Orkneys, and from King
William the Lion half of Caithness, and is subsequently defeated
and slain in Caithness by Earl Harald Maddadson.

1184. Magnus Erlingson, King of Norway, slain by King Sverrir, who
succeeds him.

1188. Death of William II., Bishop of Orkney.

1192. Canonisation of Rögnvald (Kali), Earl of Orkney, who was killed by
Thorbiörn Klerk.

1194. The Eyjarskeggiar collect forces in Orkney, and attempt to place
Sigurd, son of Magnus Erlingson, on the throne of Norway, but are
defeated, and nearly all slain, by King Sverrir at Floruvogr, near
Bergen.

1195. Earl Harald Maddadson, compromised by this expedition, goes to
Norway with Bishop Bjarni, lays his head at the king’s feet,
saying that he is now an old man, and entirely in the king’s
power. He is pardoned by King Sverrir, but on condition of
forfeiting to the crown of Norway the whole of Shetland, which
does not again form part of the domain of the Norwegian Earls of
Orkney till 1379.

1202. King William the Lion marches north to Eysteinsdal on the borders
of Caithness, with a great army, to take revenge for the
mutilation of Bishop John, and the expulsion of the deputies of
Rögnvald Gudrodson from Caithness by Earl Harald. Harald purchases
peace by a payment of 2000 marks.

1206. Death of Earl Harald Maddadson. He is succeeded by his surviving
sons, John and David. Thorfinn, his eldest son, died in Roxburgh
Castle, where he was confined as a hostage, and had been mutilated
by King William the Lion.

1214. Death of King William the Lion, and accession of Alexander II. to
the throne of Scotland. Death of David, son of Harald Maddadson.
His surviving brother John becomes sole Earl of Orkney and
Caithness.

1222. Burning of Bishop Adam at Halkirk in Caithness, by the enraged
peasantry. The King of Scots caused the hands and feet to be hewed
from a number of those who were present at the burning, and many
of them died in consequence.

1223. Death of Bishop Bjarni, and consecration of Jofreyr to the see of
the Orkneys.

1231. Earl John slain at Thurso. The line of the ancient Norwegian Earls
of Orkney having become extinct by his death, King Alexander II.
creates Magnus, son of Gilbride, Earl of Angus, Earl of Caithness,
and separating Sutherland into another earldom, gives it to
William, son of Hugh Freskyn.

1239. Death of Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney.

1243. Death of Gilbert, Bishop of Caithness.

1247. Death of Jofreyr, Bishop of Orkney.

1249. Death of Alexander II., King of Scots, at Kerrera, Argyllshire.

1256. Death of Gilbride II., Earl of Orkney.

1263. Expedition of King Hakon Hakonson, of Norway, to Scotland; he is
defeated at Largs, and dies at Kirkwall.

1266. Cession of the Hebrides and Man to Scotland by treaty between
Magnus IV., King of Norway, and Alexander III., King of Scotland.

1273. Death of Magnus, son of Gilbride, Earl of Orkney.

1276. Magnus, son of Magnus, made Earl of Orkney by King Magnus
Hakonson, at Tunsberg.

1281. Marriage of King Eirik Magnusson to Margaret, daughter of King
Alexander II. of Scotland.

1283. Death of Margaret, Queen of Norway.

1284. Margaret, infant daughter of Eirik, King of Norway, recognised as
heiress to the Scottish throne. Death of Magnus Magnusson, Earl of
Orkney.

1286. Death of King Alexander III. of Scotland.

1289. Betrothal of the Princess Margaret, the Maiden of Norway, to
Prince Edward of England.

1290. Death of Margaret, the Maiden of Norway, off the coast of Orkney,
on her way to Scotland.

1293. Marriage of King Eirik Magnusson of Norway to Isabella, daughter
of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick.

1300. Appearance at Bergen of the false Margaret, a German woman who
gave herself out as the “Maiden of Norway,” daughter of King Eirik
and Queen Margaret, stating that she had been “sold” by Ingibiorg
Erlingsdatter, and spirited away by parties who had an interest in
her disappearance.

1301. The false Margaret is burnt as an impostor at Nordness in Bergen,
and her husband beheaded.

1310. Death of John, Earl of Orkney.

1312. Treaty of Perth (1266) renewed at Inverness.

1314. Battle of Bannockburn.

1333. Battle of Halidon Hill. Death of Malise, Earl of Stratherne.

1334. Forfeiture of the earldom of Stratherne, and marriage of Isabella,
daughter of Malise, Earl of Stratherne, Caithness and Orkney, to
William, Earl of Ross. Malise goes to Norway.

1353. Erngisl Suneson, son-in-law of Malise, Earl of Stratherne, made
Earl of Orkney.

1375. King Hakon grants the earldom of Orkney for one year to Alexander
de Ard, who resigns all his lands in Caithness to King Robert II.

1379. Henry St. Clair made Earl of Orkney and Shetland by King Hakon
Magnusson, at Marstrand.

1382. Bishop William of Orkney slain.

1389. Malise Sperra slain near Scalloway by Henry, Earl of Orkney.

1392. Death of Erngisl Suneson.

1397. Union Treaty of Calmar, by which Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, were
made one kingdom.

1400 (_circa_). Death of Earl Henry St. Clair.

1418 (_circa_). Death of Earl Henry (II.) St. Clair.

1420. Bishop Thomas Tulloch made commissioner in the Orkneys for the
King of Norway.

1423. David Menzies of Wemyss made commissioner in the Orkneys for the
King of Norway.

1434. William St. Clair made Earl of Orkney.

1468. Contract of marriage between King James III. of Scotland and
Margaret, Princess of Denmark, and impignoration of the islands of
Orkney and Shetland for the Princess’s dowry.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

GENEALOGICAL TABLES.

I. THE NORSE LINE OF THE EARLS OF ORKNEY.

IVAR UPPLENDINGAJARL.

Eystein Glumra.

Rögnvald, Earl of Mœri, d. 890.
Gave the earldom of Orkney to his brother. Sigurd, 1st Earl of Mœri,
d. 874.

Guttorm, Earl of Orkney, d. 875.

Ivar, d. 870.
Thórir the Silent, m. daughter of Harald Harfagri.
Hrólf, conqueror of Normandy, d. 931. Hallad, Earl of Orkney.
Hrollaug.
Torf Einar, Earl of Orkney, d. circa 910.

William, Earl of Normandy, d. 942.

Arnkell, Earl of Orkney, d. 950. Erlend, Earl of Orkney,
d. 950. Thorfinn Hausakliuf, Earl of Orkney, d. circa
963; m. Grelauga, daughter of Duncan, Earl of Duncansbay.

Richard, Earl of Normandy, d. 1002.

Richard II., Earl of Normandy, d. 1026. Emma, m. (1) King Ethelred,
(2) King Canute.
(1) Edward, K. of England, d. 1066.
(2) Hardicanute, K. of England and Denmark, d. 1042.

Arnfinn, Earl of Orkney, m. Ragnhild, daughter of Eirik Bloodyaxe.
Havard, Earl of Orkney, m. Ragnhild. Liot, Earl of Orkney, m.
Ragnhild.
Skuli.
Hlödver, Earl of Orkney, d. circa 980.
Sigurd the Stout, slain at Clontarf, 1014; m. (1) unknown, (2)
daughter of Malcolm II., King of Scots.

Richard III., Earl of Normandy, d. 1028. Robert le Diable, d. 1035.
William, the Conqueror of England, d. 1087.

(1) Hundi, d. before 1014.
Sumarlidi, Earl of Orkney, d. circa 1015. Brúsi, Earl of Orkney, d.
1031.
Einar, Earl of Orkney, d. 1026.
(2) Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, d. 1064; m. Ingibiorg, daughter of
Earl Finn Arnason.

Rögnvald, Earl of Orkney, d. 1046.

THORFINN, EARL, m. Ingibiorg Arnason.

Paul, Earl of Orkney, d. 1098; m. daughter of Hakon Ivarsson.
Erlend, Earl of Orkney, d. 1098; m. Thora, daughter of Sumarlidi
Ospakson.

Hakon, Earl of Orkney, d. circa 1122. Thora.
Herbiörg.
Ragnhild.

Erling, slain in Ireland.
Gunhild, m. Kol, Kali’s son.
Magnus, Earl of Orkney, slain 1115, canonised 1135.
Cecelia, m. Isak.

Ingibiorg Ragna, m. Sigurd of Westness. Sigrid.

Herborg, m. Kolbein Hruga.
Bjarni, Bishop of Orkney.

Rögnvald (Kali Kolson), Earl of Orkney, d. 1158, canonised 1192.
Ingirid, m. Jon Pétrsson.

Harald Slettmali, d. circa 1127.
Ingibiorg, m. Olaf, King of the Sudreyar.
Margaret, m. (1) Maddad, Earl of Athole; (2) Erlend Ungi
Paul, Earl of Orkney, carried off to Athole by Swein Asleifson.

Ingigerd, m. Eirik Slagbrellir.
Harald Ungi, Earl of Orkney, d. circa 1198.
Magnus Mangi, d. 1184.
Rögnvald.
Ingibiorg.
Elin.
Ragnhild, m. (1) Lifolf Skalli, (2) Gunni Andreson.
Snaekoll Gunnison.

Harald Maddadson, made Earl of Orkney 1139; d. 1206; m.
(1) Afreka, sister of Duncan, Earl of Fife; (2) Gormlath, daughter
of
Malcolm MacHeth.

Gudröd, King of Man.
Rögnvald Gudrodson, d. 1229.

Ragnhild, m. Sumarlid of Argyle and the Isles.
Reginald, Dugald, Angus.

(2.) Henry, Earl of Ross.
Hakon.
Helena.
Margaret.
(1.) Thorfinn, d. in Roxburgh Castle 1201.
David, Earl of Orkney, d. 1214.
John, Earl of Orkney, d. 1231, leaving no male issue.
Gunhild.
Herborg.
Langlif.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

II. THE ANGUS LINE OF THE EARLS OF ORKNEY.

GILBRIDE, Earl of Angus, married a sister or daughter of John, Earl
of Orkney, son of Harald Maddadson.
|
+——––––––—————-+————––––––––––––———-+
| |
Magnus II., Earl of Orkney Gilbride I., Earl of
and Caithness, d. 1239. Orkney and Caithness.
|
Gilbride II., Earl of Orkney
and Caithness, d. 1256.
|
+———————–+——————–––————+
| |
Magnus III., Earl of Orkney Matilda.
and Caithness, d. 1275.
|
+——––––——–—-+—––––––––———————+
| |
Magnus IV., Earl of Orkney John, Earl of Orkney
and Caithness, d. 1284. and Caithness, d. circa 1310.
|
Magnus V., Earl of Orkney and
Caithness, m. Katharina, d.
circa 1320.
|
+——————————––––––––––––——-+——–––––––———+
| |
Margaret, m. Simon Fraser, Isabella (?) m. Malise,
who fell at Halidon Hill, 1333. Earl of Stratherne, who fell
at Halidon Hill, 1333.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

III. THE STRATHERNE LINE OF THE EARLS OF ORKNEY.

MALISE, Earl of Stratherne, m. Isabella (?),
daughter of Magnus, Earl of Orkney.
|
+—————————–––––––––––––——––––—————+
| |
Isabella (?) m. to Sir Malise, Earl of Stratherne,
William St. Clair of Roslin. Caithness, and Orkney, m.
(1) Johanna, daughter of Sir
John Menteith; (2) Marjory,
daughter of Hugh, Earl of
Ross; d. circa 1350.
|
+———–––––––––+—––———–––––———+———–––––——+——–––––-+—————-+
| | | | |
Matilda, m. to | Agnetta, m. to Arngils or | Elisabeth,
m. to
Wayland (?), de Ard. | Erngisl Suneson, who was | Henry St.
Clair,
| | made Earl of Orkney 1353. | Earl of
Orkney.
| | |
| Isabella, m. to William, (?) m. to Guttorm Sperra.
| Earl of Ross, in 1334. |
| Malise Sperra, slain at
Scalloway
Alexander de Ard. by Earl Henry St. Clair,
1389.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

IV. THE ST. CLAIR LINE OF THE EARLS OF ORKNEY.

WILLIAM ST. CLAIR of Roslin _m._ Isabella (?),
daughter of Malise, Earl of Stratherne.
_______________________________|____________
| |
David. Henry, made Earl of Orkney 1379; _m._
(1)
Elisabeth, daughter of Malise
(the younger),
Earl of Stratherne, Caithness,
and Orkney;
(2) Janet, daughter of Walter
Haliburton
of Dirleton; and _d. circa_
1400.
_________________________________________________|____________________
| | |
|
Margaret, m. to | Henry, Earl of Orkney, _m._ Egidia
Douglas, John.
James of Cragy. | daughter of Lord William Douglas; _d._
| _circa_ 1418. |
| |
Elisabeth, _m._ to |
John de Drummond. |
|
William, Earl of Orkney, exchanged
his
rights to the Earldom of Orkney
for the
lands of Ravenscraig, 1471.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------

ORKNEYINGA SAGA.

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